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The jury is in and the fate of Officer Chauvin is in!

Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin learned his fate as a tense nation watched Tuesday. The jury found Chauvin guilty on all three counts he was charged with in the May 25 death of George Floyd—second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter. The most serious charge, second-degree murder, carries a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison, NBC reports. The judge ordered Chauvin remanded to custody until a sentencing hearing in approximately eight weeks. The 45-year-old’s bail was immediately revoked and he was taken away in handcuffs, reports the AP.

Outside the heavily guarded court building in Minneapolis, there were cheers and chants of “All three counts” from the crowd as the verdicts were read, the New York Times reports. CNN reports that jurors deliberated for four hours after closing arguments were delivered Monday and resumed deliberations at 9am ET today. The court was notified Tuesday afternoon that they had reached a verdict.

Reactions of relief…..

Derek Chauvin showed little emotion as the three guilty verdicts against him in the death of George Floyd were read out Tuesday, but there was jubilation outside the Minneapolis court building. The AP reports that there were cheers among hundreds of people gathered in a nearby park and people flooded downtown streets, some waving banners as drivers honked their horns. Philonise Floyd, one of Floyd’s brothers, was in the courtroom and hugged prosecutor Jerry Blackwell, the Star Tribune reports. More:

• “Painfully earned justice.” “Painfully earned justice has arrived for George Floyd’s family and the community here in Minneapolis, but today’s verdict goes far beyond this city and has significant implications for the country and even the world. Justice for Black America is justice for all of America,” Floyd family attorney Ben Crump said in a prepared statement after Chauvin was found guilty of murder and manslaughter. Crump said the verdict is “a turning point in American history for accountability of law enforcement and sends a clear message we hope is heard clearly in every city and every state.”
• AG praises community members. CNN reports that Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison praised the “simple yet profound acts of courage” of those who recorded Chauvin putting his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes. “What happened on that street was wrong,” Ellison said. “We owe them our gratitude for fulfilling their civic duty and for their courage in telling the truth.”
• “One important step.” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz were among numerous leaders who welcomed the verdict but said much work remains to be done, the Washington Post reports. The verdict “won’t change the fact that George Floyd’s family has been rendered incomplete,” Walz said, but it “marks an important step in our pursuit of racial justice in Minneapolis—one important step on a much longer journey.”
• Floyd’s girlfriend: “Thank God for this moment.” George Floyd’s girlfriend, Courteney Ross, called the decision a “moment to celebrate” before the fight for racial justice resumes, the Guardian reports. “Floyd was one man,” she said. “George Floyd is a movement.”
• Police federation speaks out. “There are no winners in this case, and we respect the jury’s decision,” the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis said in a statement after the former officer was found guilty, per the Star Tribune. “We need the political pandering to stop and the race-baiting of elected officials to stop.”

Even Pres. Biden has stepped up with a speech…..

The verdict against Derek Chauvin “can be a moment of significant change,” President Biden said in a White House speech Tuesday, hours after a jury found the former Minneapolis police officer guilty of murder and manslaughter in the death of George Floyd. The Black man’s death “was a murder in the full light of day and it ripped the blinders off for the whole world to see” systemic racism and “the knee on the neck of justice for Black Americans,” Biden said, per CNN. Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and first lady Jill Biden called Floyd’s family moments after the verdict, reports the AP. “Nothing is going to make it all better, but at least now there is some justice,” he said in video of the call tweeted by attorney Ben Crump. “We’re all so relieved.”

Biden and Harris both urged Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, Politico reports. Biden described the decision in the Chauvin case as “much too rare” and said “it took a unique and extraordinary convergence of factors”—including bystander video of the killing and police willing to testify against a former officer—”for the judicial system to deliver a just, just basic accountability.” Chauvin will be sentenced at a hearing in around eight weeks. He faces a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison on the most serious charge and federal charges are still possible, the Washington Post reports. In a statement Wednesday, Attorney General Merrick Garland said the jury had “fulfilled its civic duty” after the trial on state charges. He said the federal civil rights investigation is “ongoing.”

So said them all!

Yes it is good news….but sadly this will probably change nothing.

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